Parties trade shots over health-care bill

Democrats and Republicans formed clear battle lines Tuesday as the Senate Finance Committee opened a high-stakes debate over health-care legislation proposed last week by the panel's chairman.

Both sides found plenty to criticize in Sen. Max Baucus' bill, particularly its requirement that all U.S. citizens must buy health insurance at potentially high costs.

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a member of the committee and the Senate's No. 2 Republican, called the bill "a stunning assault on liberty" that would lead to higher taxes and less consumer choice.

But Baucus, D-Mont., defended his work and urged colleagues to "do our part to make quality, affordable health care available to all Americans."

Republicans outlined a series of specific provisions that they would seek to change or eliminate as the panel debates 564 amendments, a discussion that could stretch into next week. One target-rich area: the more than $500 billion in Medicare changes that the bill proposes, to squeeze waste from the elderly insurance program. Another is the fine that the bill would impose on U.S. citizens who don't buy health insurance, which the GOP describes as a tax on the middle class. And they warn that the bill's hefty new industry fees would be passed on to consumers.